Therese Grohman
Event 360 recently released a report that suggests if you don’t try to cultivate those who donate at your events, you could be missing out on potential major and recurring donors. Therese Grohman shares more findings from the report. They are also hosting a free webinar on the topic today at 1:00 p.m. EST. ~Kivi
Guest Post by Therese Grohman of Event 360
Question: Who are the some of the best candidates to become your next organizational donors?
Answer: Your fundraising event donors.
According to Event 360’s research, the average event participant secures at least three to four donors — the friends and family who sponsor their walk in the 5K or who come along with them to the party. Unfortunately, most nonprofits dismiss this type of philanthropy as tangential — and fail to cultivate relationships with these donors as well as they should.
If that’s the approach your organization takes, you’re missing a golden opportunity to bring new donors into the fold. After all, an event donor’s primary motivation for supporting your organization may be to support their friend or family member — the main person participating in the event. But if you play it right, you can eventually transition the donor’s affinity from the participant to your organization and cause.
The key to turning one-time donors (and participants) into long-term advocates and donors is effective engagement. That’s the focus of Event 360’s new white paper, “4 Steps to Converting Event Donors to Organizational Donors.”
While post-event donor engagement is top of mind for many fundraising professionals, our guide is the first time this important topic has been addressed in a formal, substantive way. We outline a four-step process for identifying, engaging, qualifying/cultivating and converting event donors — with useful recommendations each step of the way.
- Identify: Capture all the information you can about the donor.
- Engage: Event donors require more nuanced communications, but you still must engage them.
- Qualify and Cultivate: Assign event donors as major, annual or planned gifts prospects, then personalize their experience.
- Convert: Ask!
Please take a moment to download our white paper today. It is a quick read — and might just transform your organization’s fundraising strategy.
Therese Grohman is the Director of Marketing at Event 360, strategic event fundraising practitioners and consultants offering a full range of event fundraising services.
